Shining
by InsideGirl
Summary: The spotlight isn’t big enough for the two of them, so Blair Waldorf was going to take a step back and find her own spotlight; she was tired of living in the shadows.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Shining

**Summary: **The spotlight isn't big enough for the two of them, so Blair Waldorf was going to take a step back and find her own spotlight; she was tired of living in the shadows.

**Spoilers: **Based off spoilers for 2X05

**Disclaimer: **I don't own this chapter or any others that might come after it. If I did Serena would so be on her way back to Connecticut right now.

**Author's Note:** I've never liked Serena much, neither in the books nor the TV series, because Blair was my favourite and she was always stealing her thunder, so I had to write this about Blair finding her own way in life, instead of just being Serena Van Der Woodsen's best friend.

* * *

The cake sat temptingly in front of her, the cream oozing out of it. No matter how much Blair Waldorf glared at it, she could feel her resistance caving in.

It had seemed almost mechanical when she walked into the patisserie ordering the most delicious cake she had seen. Now she had felt disgusted with herself. She knew that if she had even one bite it would lead to her eating the whole thing before bringing it all back up, hot tears streaming down her face, her face flushing red with shame. One bite would lead to her completely losing control; the one thing she had left.

She shoved the cake back into its box. Cake wasn't what she needed right now; she needed a drink.

* * *

Blair drained her martini in one. God that felt good. Her mind ran over what had happened the past few days. Serena had finally said what she had always known; she would never be good enough, Serena would always be better. Her mom was more interested in Serena and Jenny Humphrey, of all people. Chuck had been the start of her downfall, he'd helped her rise, and he'd helped her fall. Now this… she didn't even want to think about it.

Her eyes stung with tears of self-pity and she wiped them with her sleeve before she realised what she was doing. She checked the sleeves of her white shirt and was glad to see she hadn't gotten mascara all over them.

She laughed bitterly. Who cares if she got mascara on her top? Nobody cared, that's who. Nobody would care if she weren't perfect all the time, because there was nobody left to care. Everybody had left her. Her so-called friends were now worshipping Serena, she should have learnt not to trust them after the last time she was dethroned. She didn't have any other friends. Acquaintances, yes, but that was only because she was the Queen B, the one everyone wanted to know. Now she was drinking by herself in a bar that everyone knew had fallen out of fashion last season. Her only ever real friends had been Serena, Nate and Chuck, and look how that had turned out.

She ordered another martini. Who needed friends anyway? Not her. At least, she didn't need friends like that.

As much as she resented Serena right now, she couldn't say she was surprised, in fact, she could see the irony in it all. She had never been the Queen; she'd just been looking after it while Serena was away. If she was going to lose her throne, Serena's throne, to anyone, at least it had been her. The two had been rivals so many times, in Blair's eyes at least, in everyone else's there had never been any competition, that of course it would be Serena, her best friend, her sister, who would take everything from her. Her friends, her throne, even Chuck was on Serena's side.

She couldn't blame them.

She checked the time on her watch, she should be going home, it is a school night after all, and the last thing she needed was her picture plastered all over Gossip Girl stumbling home drunk.

Then she realised, she wasn't Queen B anymore, she could do whatever she liked without the fear that somebody might steal her throne. They already had. She didn't have to go home, she could stay out all night, do what she liked, go out dancing, whatever she wanted.

She grabbed her coat and headed for the door.

* * *

Georgina Sparks nodded her head along with the beat as she pushed her way through the crowd. The band finished a song and the crowd burst into cheers. Finally reaching the bar, she ordered a vodka and coke. New York City late at night was her favourite place in the world; with the clouds of smoke that hung in the air, the buzzing people, and the constant flow of alcohol, she felt at home.

She loved the anonymity of it all, she could be whomever she wanted, whenever she wanted.

This was probably a good thing, under the circumstances. Her last visit to the city hadn't ended so well, in fact it had ended with her being sent to boot camp. An experience she definitely didn't want to remember.

Things had been going so smoothly as well, her plan had been in it's final stages, it's execution about to take place, and then it had all come tumbling around of her, all thanks to her.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

She froze, she would know that screech anywhere, even if it was a little slurred.

"I thought I had gotten rid of you!"

She looked round. She was staring into the eyes of the girl who had ruined many of her wonderful plans, time after time after time.

Blair Waldorf.

* * *

Blair could not believe what she was seeing. Georgina Sparks was here in New York. She thought she had gotten rid of her. Typical, the one thing she had left, her power to ruin people, had left her too.

She narrowed her eyes and marched up to Whore-gina.

"Are you going to answer my question?" she asked her, her voice a pitch higher than it usually was; a sure sign she was a little tipsy. Georgina's mouth just opened and closed like a goldfish. She rolled her eyes; she really didn't get why everyone was so scared of her. "Ugh, I so don't have the patience to deal with this right now," Blair fumed, walking away.

She ended up outside, sitting on the grimy stairs outside the fire escape. Yes, it was disgusting, but she beyond caring. She heard the sound of the fire escape opening and someone standing behind her.

"Oh, great, it's you." She started to reach for her cell phone to call for a car to pick her up. There was no way she was getting a cab from here this late at night; she shuddered just thinking about the stories she had heard.

"When I came out tonight I didn't expect to see Blair Waldorf here of all places," Georgina said. Looked like she had finally regained the power of speech.

"When I came out tonight I didn't expect to see you full stop. I thought you were being reformed in- where was it again?"

"You underestimate me. It didn't take me long to get out of that place."

"The place _I_ sent to you." Blair looked up at her smugly. It really had been a wonderful plan that they had come up with. A plan she had designed with _him_…

"So where's S? I thought the two of you were inseparable." Georgina said mockingly.

"I don't know and I don't care. I'm done with Serena." Just saying it aloud was like unloading a huge burden that had been weighing on her. She was done with Serena; she was done living in her shadow and falling short of the bar that so obviously had Serena's name engraved upon it. Blair Waldorf was going to step out of the shadows and shine for herself.

"Are you still here?" Blair snapped at Georgina.

"You two fell out?" Georgina could not help but be a little curious. It must have been bad for Blair to even be seen here, especially this drunk.

"Yep, we've fallen out of each other's lives." Blair suddenly had an overwhelming desire to let everything out, even if it was to Georgina Sparks.

"There's just not enough room in the spotlight for the two of us, apparently. Hardly surprising seeing as Serena _is_ the spotlight. It's finally come down to everyone choosing between the two of us, and guess what, Serena won hands down." She looked up in surprise as Georgina sat down next to her, when she realised she had tears in her eyes.

"When doesn't she? I was friends with her too remember? I know what she can be like sometimes without even meaning to be. Especially now she's picked up this whole holier-than-thou mentality at boarding school."

"Tell me about it. It's like she doesn't even remember half the stuff she did."

"She probably doesn't, she was so out of it most of the time."

Blair raised an eyebrow, "you can talk! Whenever Serena was dancing on a tabletop you were right there with her."

"We're more alike than you think, Waldorf," Georgina said. Blair scoffed; the only thing they had in common was Chuck Bass being their first.

"Really? How?"

"We both know what we want, we get it, and we have fun doing it."

"That's where you're wrong. I don't have anything I want."

"Please, you're Blair Waldorf. Ever since I have known you, you have always gotten what you want. To be honest, I was always kind of jealous of you."

"Me?"

Georgina nodded, "You four were always so close, and you never let anyone else in."

Blair nodded, seemingly mulling it over. Georgina could not believe she was sitting here having a civilised conversation with her without ripping each other to shreds. It was probably because they were both so drunk; she doubted they would even remember all of this in the morning.

"Can I tell you a secret?"

The request surprised Blair; never would she ever have thought she would be sharing secrets with Georgina Sparks. "Go on then," she said hesitantly.

"At first I wanted to be your friend, not Serena's. We were nine and I wanted to get back at Maria Glover for not inviting me to her sleepover so I snuck into her locker and put a frog in her lunch. I was only found out when you so luckily found my bracelet in her locker."

"It wasn't one of your best schemes, it was so easy just to plant it there," Blair said.

"I wanted to know why you had deliberately gotten me into trouble, I was impressed too, so I'd thought I'd befriend you, but you didn't want to know."

"I had Serena; I thought I didn't need anyone else. I was wrong, obviously. It's a shame really, who knows how much destruction we could've caused together," Blair sighed.

"All the people we could have destroyed; the havoc we could've wreaked."

"It could've been fun." Blair smiled slightly at the thought.

"I thought there was only room for one manipulative bitch around here," Georgina said.

"It's a big city, I'm sure the two of us could've worked something out."

The two caught each other's eyes and burst into giggles. This was so surreal; Blair was almost a hundred percent sure this was an alcohol induced dream. She had had _way_ too many martinis.

* * *

_I was going to wait 'til after Monday to post this but I couldn't wait._

_This isn't just going to be a Blair and Georgina get revenge on Serena thing, it's mainly about Blair realising she doesn't need Serena as much as she always thought she did. And yeah, I know there have been Blair Georgie things floating and when I saw them I was like oh crumbs (yes I do say that in real life), but great minds think alike and whatever._

_Worth continuing? Let me know. x_


	2. Chapter 2

Blair groaned and rolled over. She was only semi-conscious but was aware that everything seemed different from usual. Her sheets were less soft, if she was even lying on sheets that was. She was not wearing her usual silk nightgown and she highly doubted she was in her own bed.

She sat up, suddenly alert, as the events of last night flooded back to her. Not only had she _cried_ in front of Georgina Sparks but had also ended up actually _enjoying_ hanging out with her. There was definitely something wrong here. She wasn't supposed to like her, she was to Georgina as Nate was to scheming. Complete opposites.

Georgina was passed out on a couch opposite to the one she was on, a few empty wine bottles were sitting on the pine coffee table between them, accounting for her thumping headache that was not being helped by the bright light streaming in through the windows.

Her eyes widened; it was bright outside, and if it were bright than that must mean it was morning, and if it were morning then she was late for school.

Shit.

She scrambled up and checked the time. Forty-five minutes until she would officially be late for school. She reached around for her shoes before searching for her bag that seemed to have gone AWOL. She grabbed Georgina's purse and took out some notes; she didn't have time to search for it. She picked up her coat and headed for the door sparing a final look at herself in the mirror; her hair was a complete mess and her clothes were all crumpled. She had thought to borrow some of Georgina's but a) she did not have enough time to get changed and b) Georgina hardly had any clothes any as they all seemed to have been taken away at boot camp.

She would just have to risk being seen in last night's clothes, stumbling out of a hotel. Well, this was one way to promote the all-new Blair Waldorf.

_

* * *

_

Looks like somebody didn't just wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, but the wrong bed completely. Same clothes from the night before

_**B**__? Looks like you haven't just lost your throne, your friends but also your dignity. Oh how the mighty fall! But remember B, the further you fall, the less people there to catch you at the bottom.You know you love me, xoxo, Gossip Girl. _

* * *

Blair ran down the hall but slowed as she approached her AP English class. No need for everyone to see she had been in a rush. She had managed to get home, have a quick shower and get dressed but she was far from looking her best. She bet Serena was looking perfect.

"Sorry I'm late," she apologised to Ms. Walker.

"Take a seat, Miss Waldorf. It's most unlike you."

Blair glanced around the room and noticed that the seating dynamics had completely changed. Just last week when she was still Queen, they had sat in the front of the classroom, the losers at the back. Unlike Blair, however, Serena was far from interested in maintaining her grades and had led them to the back row. The only free seat was on the aisle in the second row. The good thing was she didn't have far to walk, heads turning as she passed. The bad thing was she would be able to feel all eyes on her during the hour-long lesson.

Blair inwardly groaned as she realised that in her haste to get to school she had forgotten to pick up her books. She slowly raised her arm, already blushing, to ask for a spare.

The heat rose to her cheeks as she heard the titters from behind her as Ms. Walker slammed a book down in front of her, giving her a disapproving frown

The lesson carried on. Halfway through they had to split into the pairs they were sitting in and discuss the book. Blair couldn't put a name to the girl next to her, although she did look vaguely familiar.

Blair placed a hand on her stomach as it yet again rumbled. Maybe skipping breakfast had not been such a good idea, but she would have thought she would be used to it by now.

"Here, do you want one?" the girl offered.

"What is it?" Blair asked dubiously.

"Peppermint flavoured heroin," she said with a completely straight face.

"Charade? That's one of my favourite films."

"Mine too. They're just mints."

Blair estimated just how much sugar was in them, just like everything else she ate, before taking one and popping it in her mouth. Her sugar intake was the least of her worries.

"Thanks..."

"Megan."

"Right, Megan." Blair sized her up. She realised that she would need friends and maybe Megan was a good place to start. She noticed that Megan's clothes did seem a little baggy on her and realised why she hadn't been able to place her earlier. If she added about a stone and half she remembered her as one of those girls would stare in contempt at. How the let themselves get that big was beyond her.

"Oh my God, have you lost weight?"

"Erm, yeah," she said, blushing at the compliment.

"You must have lost about twenty pounds," Blair said incredulously.

"Twenty-three, but yeah."

"That must have been some diet, especially if you can keep on eating those mints."

Megan launched into an explanation of her diet and Blair was actually genuinely interested, but it was a little off-putting that out of the corner of her eye she could see people whispering about her. She should be flattered, she supposed, that she was still worthy of being gossiped about.

The girl on the other side of Megan nudged her and nodded her head towards the back of the classroom. Megan's eyes widened and she immediately stopped talking and she and Blair sat in silence.

Great, Blair thought, just when she had thought she was getting somewhere, Megan had been scared off.

Ugh, it was going to be a long day, but, if Blair remembered rightly, which she might not seeing as everything had become a bit of a blur towards the end, lunch would be fun.

* * *

It seemed like the entire school had turned out to the Met to watch how things played out. Serena sat pride of place on the steps waiting for Blair to turn up.

She had been more than a little surprised when she had gotten a call from Blair when she could clearly see Blair on the other side of the courtyard.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Oh hi," a guy said, "sorry Blair left her bag at my place last night and she seems to call you a lot so-," Serena turned her gaze towards to Blair, who was currently sitting by herself at a table, "-I was just wondering if you could tell her."

"You know, I think I could do that. In fact, I know exactly where you can meet her. You know where the Met is, right?"

The word had gotten around both schools and everyone, apart from Blair, knew that the mystery guy was going to turn up.

Hazel spotted Blair walking towards the steps and Serena immediately sent Elise over to ask her to join them. Sure, she and Blair were not speaking right now, but someone had to be the bigger person, so she'd figured she'd forgive Blair for how she had acted at her mom's fashion show. And when he did turn up, Serena could help Blair get rid of him, and Blair would owe her.

Serena stood, intent on going to talk to Blair, when she noticed the cab pull up and the figure get out, exactly at the time they had agreed. However, it wasn't the guy she had talked to on the phone that stepped out but Georgina Sparks.

Her eyes widened in shock. She could not believe what she was seeing- she thought Blair had taken care of her. She looked around wildly; Nate and Chuck had seen her too. They made their way over to her; whenever she was in trouble, she knew the three of them would be there for her. She looked for Blair who she expected to be by her side too, but Blair was walking towards Georgina.

Serena followed her. Blair would need her help in a confrontation against her. Her steps slowed, however, as it became aware to her that Blair wasn't going to confront Georgina at all. Blair slid into the cab and she was followed by Georgina who only paused to blow a kiss at her.

Nate and Chuck were right at her side; she knew they were scared too. Nothing good could come from an alliance between the two.

* * *

"So, what's the plan?" Georgina asked. The two of them were in a sushi restaurant, revelling in the glow that came from seeing Serena's face at Georgina's appearance. They had agreed to that little stunt last night. Georgina got someone to ring Serena for her so that Serena would be even more shocked when she saw her.

"What makes you think I have one?" Georgina just raised her eyebrows in reply. This was Blair; of course she had a plan.

"I'm not going to do anything. Not right now at least."

"Nothing?" Georgina said incredulously.

"Nope. Serena has seen us together now. She knows what I'm capable of, and she knows what you are capable of. The thought of us together-"

"-will drive her completely and utterly insane." Georgina finished.

"Exactly."

"Mind games, how very… _diabolical_ of you."

"Thanks," she said before taking a sip of her drink. "Serena will be suspecting us to do something. She'll be waiting for us to strike and the longer she waits the more torturous it'll be."

"This isn't Serena second-edition we're dealing with; she's not going to be the push-over she's been recently."

"I know, but with me not retaliating she'll be the one in the wrong."

"That's setting you up for some major humiliation."

Blair shrugged, "what have I got to lose?"

"Who else in on your list? As much as you want to get back at Serena right now, I can't believe that you aren't planning on taking some others down with her."

"No just Serena for now, and maybe her little minions too," Chuck's name was left hanging in the air. She would rather her revenge on him was more personal after finding out that everything was down to him. It had been pure chance last night that she had bumped into Amanda or whatever her real name was and had been able to get the whole story out of her. He'd ruined her and she would ruin him, she just had to figure out how.

"Well, sweetie, together we can take down as many as we want."

"Why do you want to help me? It's not like you're gaining anything out of it."

"Sweetie, I'm just along for the ride. What's more fun than completely screwing people over?"

Blair thought about it, but could not come up with anything so instead she raised her glass.

"To social destruction."

"To social destruction."

* * *

_Ugh, I wanted to get this out before tonight's episode but I think it seems kind of rushed- esp, Serena's part, but I think that's just because I couldn't get into her mindframe because she annoys me so much. And sorry if it's a little confusing, and I wasn't sure if Blair knew about what Chuck did so whatevs._

_Major thanks to everyone who reviewed and stuff. I've stopped receiving updates from FF for God know's why, so I couldn't reply even though I wanted to. So, yeah, thanks to all you very gorgeous people. x_


	3. Chapter 3

"I can't believe she'd stoop this low," Serena said as she paced up and down.

After the 'incident', the three of them had gone to the empty Van Der Bass household to get away from everyone.

"You can't?" Chuck drawled from the couch he was lazily draped over. Despite his demeanour, he was far from calm. Blair by herself was ruthless, determined, and played dirty. But Blair teaming up with Georgina? Even he was scared.

His plan to take everything from Blair so that she would have to come back to him had been far from flawless, but this was not just a bump in the road. This was a meteorite that had destroyed the road. Not only had Blair turned to Georgina effing Sparks instead of seeking solace in his arms, but by effectively ruining Blair and Serena's friendship for no reason he would have to choose a side. If he chose Blair, she might not even want him and then Serena would be pissed at him. If he chose Serena, Blair would be the one who was annoyed.

"What are they going to do?" Serena whispered sinking into a chair.

The three of them sat in daunted silence. What _would_ they do? Who knew what the two of them were capable of?

"Maybe I should talk to Blair," Serena muttered, reaching for her phone.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Nate told her, "I'll talk to her."

Serena's thumb froze, "thanks." Talking to Blair probably wasn't a good idea right now. She just wanted to scream. Blair could be so _Blair_ sometimes; sometimes she wondered why she was even friends with her. She was spiteful and vindictive and bringing Georgina back just showed how little their friendship meant to Blair.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Chuck cut in, "we don't want to say anything to her that might make the situation worse."

"Don't worry- I know how to deal with Blair."

"That's debatable."

"Oh what, so you think you should do it? Because another Chuck-Blair drama is what we need right now."

Chuck went to retort but Serena knew the last thing she needed right now was for these two to fight. She would need them.

"Will you two shut up?"

Three against two, sure it wasn't fair, but neither was life.

* * *

"Blair!" she heard a familiar voice call. She was on her way home from school. That afternoon had certainly been interesting. Everybody had still been buzzing about Georgie's reappearance; nobody knew exactly what had happened before, but they knew it hadn't ended well, what with Georgina's disappearance.

She spun around, "Three guesses what you want to talk about."

Nate hurried to reach her, "can I walk with you?"

"I doubt it'll make a difference if I say no." Blair rolled her eyes as she carried on walking.

"Blair, what are you doing?" he asked, shaking his head.

"It's called walking Nate, slightly slower than a jog. You might have heard of it."

"Blair," he said, turning her around to face him, "Georgina Sparks?"

Blair sighed, "what about her?"

"Blair, I know you and Serena had a fight, but to drag Georgina into this? This is a new low, even for you."

"Nate, I haven't dragged Georgina into anything. I happened to be out last night and I bumped into her. We talked and, you know what? I actually had fun. Georgie is my _friend_. This isn't all some ploy to get one over on Serena; this isn't about Serena at all. For once this is actually about me."

"Have you forgotten what she did?"

"Of course not, but Georgie's been at reformatory school, she's _reformed_."

"No one can change that much, Blair."

"Well maybe you should remind Serena of that. I remember she seemed to think she had changed when she came back, but now it turns out she hasn't. While you're reminding her of that, make sure to inform her that neither Georgie nor I have any interest in blackmailing her. Surprisingly, our worlds don't revolve around her."

"You and Serena fight all the time. Why can't you just make up again and things can go back to the way they were."

Blair shook her head, "we can't go back, not this time."

"Come on Blair, it can't have been that bad."

"It _was_ that bad, Nate. Why don't you ask her what really happened? I've got to go, okay?" With that, she walked away.

She was actually quite proud of herself for not outright lying to Nate: They didn't plan to _blackmail _Serena as such, and it really wasn't all to do with Serena, it was about her getting back everything she had worked so hard to achieve.

She pulled out her phone. God she was glad to have it back. Those few hours where she hadn't had it with her had been agonizing, as if she were missing a limb. She made a mental note to hold a fundraiser for amputees. On the return of her pone, however, she had seen the Gossip Girl blast about her leaving Georgina's. Though she did have to admit, it had worked in her favour. Maybe Gossip Girl did have her uses after all.

"Miss me already?" Georgina's voice said in her ear.

"I was just ringing to ask a favour," Blair told her, "I need you to do something for me."

"And what would that be?"

"I need you to do a little digging for me. I want you to find out all the hidden secrets of a certain Poppy Lifton- by any means necessary."

"...So you want me to Google her?"

"Pretty much."

"I think I can do that. Why can't you do it yourself though?"

"I've got something else to take care of."

"Don't you mean _someone_ else?"

"It's scary how well you know me."

"Like I said before, we're the same."

Blair couldn't help but think of how there was always one other person who understood her just as much, or probably more than, Georgina did.

Funnily enough, it was the same person she had to go and take care of.

* * *

"Is Eleanor here?" a voice floated through from downstairs, which Blair recognised as Jenny's. She heard Dorota's reply of 'no' as she walked down the stairs, dresses in hand.

"Hi, Jenny."

"Oh, hey, Blair. I was just looking for your Mom."

"I know. You can wait for her if you like, I don't think she'll be long and you can help me pick out something to wear."

"Do you have a date?" Jenny asked surprised, eyeing the dresses Blair was holding.

"Sort of," Blair told her.

"I like the blue one."

"Really? It would match my new Choo's. Come help me decide." Blair turned and made her way back up the stairs with Jenny following.

"I don't think I told you but your dress that Serena wore, it was really good," Blair complimented her as they went through her closet.

"Thanks."

"I hope you're not going to have to quit your job with my mom because your dad found out you was skipping school."

"Skipping school is not going to be a problem anymore."

Blair raised an eyebrow quizzically, "it's not?"

"I quit," Jenny admitted.

Blair turned to her shocked. "You quit school!"

"Erm, yeah. School's not really for me."

"But your only fifteen, you can't quit. And what about college?"

"Well, hopefully I'll have a job with your Mom."

"And if you don't?"

"Then I'll find another job."

"Well, you're braver than I am."

"Thanks, I think."

There was a knock at the door. "Mrs. Waldorf is home now," Dorota announced from the doorway

"I better go," Jenny said.

"Good luck," Blair said.

Just as Jenny left, her phone buzzed.

**Mission accomplished. U owe me. –G**

**Martinis and margaritas l8r? –B**

**That's a start. –G**

Blair smirked. Step one: annihilate Serena's socialite friends was officially in motion. Now time to put her other plan into action.

**Palace bar. 1 hour. –B**

She had gotten dressed in the outfit her and Jenny had finally picked out before he replied.

**C u then. –C**

Blair smirked. She officially had a date with revenge.

_

* * *

_

Sorry, took longer than I expected. Oh yeah, and I'd like to say congrats to Jenny for taking the first step towards redemption. Maybe this is a Jenny I can learn to like. x


End file.
